In the first two posts of our marine litter series we discussed the types of litter and the staggering amount of litter in our oceans. One particular type of litter that is very alarming is called micro-plastics. What are micro-plastics? Micro-plastics are defined as any plastic particle less than 5 mm in size. Typically the pieces start out larger in size and are broken into smaller and smaller pieces along their journey. As the plastic gets washed into rivers and out into the oceans they slowly start to break apart until they reach micro size. However, manufacturers of beauty products incorporated what was called micro-beads into their products that was marketed as an exfoliating agent for the skin. These tiny beads were very small and were not filtered out by sewage plants and made their way into our rivers and oceans. Eventually people realized these micro-beads were very bad and stopped using them in their products and governments began to legislate against these products. However, billions of them have found their way into our oceans.
While a great deal of research has been completed on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is a circulating heap of floating litter in the North Pacific, not much research has been completed on micro-plastics and their effects on the oceans ecosystem. However, The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute has begun researching where micro-plastics are located in the ocean and their findings are alarming. They are finding micro-plastics deep below the surface of the ocean. They are finding these particles ingested by fish that never go to the surface. One of the most alarming discoveries was that there are more plastic particulates floating below the surface than in all of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. These micro-plastics are being eaten by fish and other creatures and eventually make their way up the food chain to larger and larger fish which are eaten by humans.
The effect of these micro-plastics are not completely known yet but what is known is that they are firmly in our food chain. Plastics have only been around for about 80 years and in the last 20 years have penetrated every part of our lives and it is now that we are starting to realize the mess we have created. Now is the time to evaluate our interactions with this material and figure out how we can help reduce this problem for future generations.
Comentarii